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Published: June 20th 2006
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After a complete mission from the Andaman coast to the Gulf of Thailand (via longtail boat, pick-up truck, bus, overnight stay in Surat, pick-up truck, ferry, pick-up truck…) we finally made it out to Koh Tao Island (also known as ‘Turtle Island’). The final few hours in the ferry were a nightmare with HUGE swells sending the boat leaning on some frightening angles. The poor people sitting on the top deck had an even worse trip with people vomiting everywhere!
The trip was worth it when we finally climbed off our doomed vessel and stumbled up the dodgy wharf to the village at Koh Tao Island.
Koh Tao is very pretty although the main beach is of course crowded with diving resorts and bars. Good to see that the development appears more planned and appealing than that on Phi Phi.
We settled into our (lovely) room at Bans Diving Resort and spent the following day zipping around the Island on our hired scooters. Lots of areas to explore - the suicidal dogs and chickens made things interesting on a few occasions!
On our second day we were happy to meet up with our great new friends that
we met in Phi Phi, Heidi and Dan. The four of us had some great times taking our poor little scooters off-road on some very dodgy roads. The mission was to find some snorkeling spots and calm beaches as our own one was a little windy. On one of the trips we were not disappointed. The underwater view was great - huge variety of fish and very clear waters. Lunch at the beachside restaurant was pretty good too. Over the two days we explored most of the island and had a fantastic time. The boys became quite confident on the little scooters but didn’t do anything too stupid with the girls clinging (and nail digging) their backs. No damage done!
The private cove called ‘Jameson Bay’ was certainly worth the 100 baht entrance fee. The water was deep, crystal clear and teeming with tropical fish. Conveniently enough, the entrance fee is refundable at the resort restaurant. Possibly one of the best Thai green currys we had on the trip and the best service too.
Like so many others, our reason for coming to Koh Tao was the diving. Chris started his four day open-water course on our third
Jameson Bay
Worth the 80-100bt entry fee. It gets refunded when you eat there anyway. day. The course covers all the skills for deep SCUBA diving including theory and practical work. He loved every second of it - even going back out for a further two dives following the four deep dives on the course. He dived down to 27 metres and was lucky enough to see a huge trigger fish (beautiful but nasty fish that will bite if threatened) and a huge school of (thousands) of barracudas. Apparently the barracudas are beautiful in such huge numbers - I guess I’ll just have to take his word on it!
After watching him complete his deep sea dives and sitting on the dive boat with no mates. I decided to ‘get hard’ and get over my stupid fear of deep water, sharks, moray eels and sea snakes. In a flash of confidence I signed up for the ‘Discover scuba diving course’ for the following day.
The pool skills weren’t too bad after I got used to the whole idea of actually breathing underwater. I even managed to remove and replace my mask underwater on the second attempt which made me feel pretty darn good!
In the afternoon, we were out again on the
dive boat along with all the experienced divers who had completed their courses. I felt very lucky to be doing my first dive with my own instructor and Chris. Being the drama-queen I am, I was terrified and very nearly refused to enter the water off the side of the boat. With a boat full of people cheering me on, I shuffled to the platform, shut my eyes and stepped over the edge; dropping down 3 metres before hitting the water. The feeling was completely un-natural as the scuba tanks weigh about 25kg! The fear of sinking was very, very real. Ha ha, Tash Watts you would have loved it! I can hear you laughing at my whimpy-ness from here!
The dive was fantastic. We dived ‘The Twins’ site - called this because of the huge pinnacles based there. We saw thousands and thousands of fish and coral formations. Swimming underwater is an amazing feeling - we’re hooked! We will certainly do more scuba diving in the future!
Ko Tao has a large selection of bars. The drinks are cheap and very strong. The buckets of Thai whisky are potent and provided us and our new friends with
some entertaining evenings by the ocean. The ‘free punch for ladies’ was a popular option, although I was feeling the effects the next morning..
After waving ‘good bye’ to Ban’s Diving Resort, we boarded our (much nicer) ferry and set sail for Ko Samui Island. Thankfully the seas were beautifully calm and the trip gave us a good chance to unwind after our seven amazing days on Koh Tao Island.
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